When You Do
by harunousakura
Summary: Makoto has left Iwatobi. Haru waits for him to come home, waiting for phone calls and letters and emails, but eventually starts not receiving them anymore. Not too long - maybe a five-shot, at best. (Will try to have an eventual MakoHaru, it is a must!)


_**Hello everyone, this is the second MakoHaru fic i am writing. it's more angsty this time, and it's gonna be a five or six-shot probably. Hope you guys like it! (this chapter is unedited!) based on a tumblr prompt from marukaprompts. I AM SORRY IF THIS IS REALLY BAD IT'S LIKE 2AM BUT THIS IS WHEN MY IDEAS COME BEST? I LOVE YOU ALL xoxo**_

* * *

Makoto's arms encircled me, his chin resting on my head. I wrapped my arms around his waist. He was whispering gentle words, the way he always did. My chest felt hollow, and yet, so full of Makoto. I inhaled his scent, and carved into my memory. His train hadn't arrived yet, and from the corner of my eye, I saw them all watching us, their own eyes full of sorrow. Rin's eyes were particularly dead; they had no light in them, as he watched us.

"I promise I'll come back, Haru."

"I know. I'll be waiting."

Makoto removed himself from me, and held my shoulders as he stared at me, his brows knitted together.

"I _will _come home, Haru. Don't doubt it." The conviction in his voice made my heart pound with hope.

I nodded, and stared at his gentle face. He moved in closer, his face becoming softer by the second. I moved an inch closer, feeling a deep red creeping up on my cheeks. His hands came up to rest on either side of my face, and his eyes watched mine. I allowed myself to grin a little, and in turn, causing a chain reaction, making him grin wide. His nose grazed mine, and his cheeks began to turn crimson. He smelled of peppermint, of sunflowers, of _Makoto_.

He pressed his lips to mine hard; needy and desperate. I allowed him to hold me tight, and his hands moved from my face to my waist, holding me even tighter. He kissed me for a long time, and I suddenly felt a wetness on my face. I opened my eyes, and saw Makoto's closed eyes leaking a waterfall of tears.

"Hey, hey.." I said against his lips. He opened his eyes in surprise, and pulled back to wipe his eyes. He laughed.

"Sorry, Haru. Got caught in the moment," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck. I didn't say anything.

Makoto's train finally pulled onto the tracks, and the doors opened. I watched Makoto's face, and saw a part of him die, in his eyes. He looked almost complacent, and I would have been fooled if I hadn't seen him crying just a few seconds before. He turned his face towards me, his eyes as soft as ever.

"I'll see you soon, Haru," he says before kissing my lips again.

"Don't forget to call."

"I know. Don't worry," he said as he flashed me his kind smile. He waved goodbye to the others, trying to appear as composed as possible. I frowned as I watched him get on the train. He found his place, near the window, and his eyes watched me as he sat. He mouthed something to me, his eyes not matching the emotion that was displayed in his smile. I tried to smile for him, as my hand came up. He promised he'd come back. I know he will come back. It's Makoto. Makoto doesn't break his promises. He mouthed the same words again, knowing for sure none of the rest would pick up on it.

_I love you, Haru. Wait for me, okay?_

I nodded as I swallowed. I felt uneasy that Makoto was leaving, of course. But it was only for a few months. He would call. He would send emails. Send texts. He would do all of this, because Makoto loved me, and I loved Makoto.

Makoto gestured to my shirt, by holding the hem of his own shirt. I looked at the shirt I was wearing, and realized it was Makoto's shirt. I blushed, and Makoto smiled at me from the window. I had forgotten to give it back to him - it was too comfortable. It smelled of him, too. The train's engines signaled to us passerby that it was leaving the station. I smiled at Makoto, making sure he was not crying. His eyes watched me, and slowly waved as he was leaving the station. I waved as I smiled, encouraging him to smile, too. He let out a tiny grin, his eyes fixed on me the whole time.

His gentle green eyes disappeared in a flash, and my heart was hollow.

* * *

Eight full moons have passed, and Makoto has become more and more distant. I never questioned him when he started talking to me less. He was busy, I understood that. He knew that I understood that, and that's probably why he felt as though he didn't need to explain himself. I felt that this was all okay, this was all acceptable - as long as Makoto was happy. He never wrote to me anymore, he never sent emails anymore. He would still call once in a while, but there would be no substance in his words. It was weird for me, for Makoto to not have anything to talk about. When he first left Iwatobi, he would call _at least _three times a week, to check up on me, on Rin, on Nagisa, on Rei, and of course, on his family, even though he could easily call all of them. Now, whenever he called me, it was only to ask how I was doing. If I was in the bathtub for over one hour today. If I had eaten my mackerel for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If I went swimming today. It sounded trivial, but I knew it meant more to Makoto to hear that my life has not changed much without him. He would bask in the comfort that his absence didn't affect me at all.

Which is why I lied to him about how I was.

Of course, being away from Makoto made me extremely lonely, since I was not as close to anyone else as I was to Makoto. It's not that I stopped doing any of the things that I did before Makoto left. I had been doing them all the same. The only difference was that I'd been allowing my habits to take advantage of me, and I'd been doing them more _excessively_.

I swam in a pool for more than three hours a day; I was freezing when I would get home. I'd been eating mackerel for snacks, as well, in between meals. I stay in the bathtub for over two hours. When I went shopping for new swimming trunks, I would always look at the ones that Makoto helped me pick out. At least, the ones with the similar designs as the ones he'd bought with me.

It was no doubt that being away from my best friend made me uneasy. I missed him terribly, his warm presence. It was fading everyday, and I wasn't sure what to do about it. I was sure he was fine; Makoto is very responsible and he would never do something reckless.

And yet, I still needed my quirks to keep my mind off him.

* * *

_"Makoto."_

_"Haru! How have you been? Did you get out of the house today?"_

_"Yeah. There were some cats outside just an hour ago. I fed them some milk."_

_"I see. Have you eaten breakfast?"_

_"I was just about to cook some mackerel."_

_"Tsk. Haru..."_

_"We all know I'm not going to eat anything else."_

_"I know, but I wish you would for once."_

_"..."_

_"Makoto?"_

_"Yes, Haru?"_

_"What's it like there?"_

_"You ask this every time. Are you sure you're not bored of the picture I keep painting for you?"_

_"No. Tell me again."_

_"...Okay. It's very cold here, but I'm sitting near a fireplace. The ocean is obviously too cold to go to right now, plus, you're not here with me. I can't take anyone else to the ocean, who wouldn't be as happy as you would be. It's started to snow. I could make snow angels, but that'd be no fun doing alone. The people are lovely, cooking me meals every meal and asking about home."_

_"And what do you say about home?"_

_"That there's someone waiting for me, and that I want to get back to him as soon as possible."_

_"..."_

_"Haru."_

_"Yeah?"_

_"I miss you."_

_"...I miss you too."_

_"I'm coming home soon, okay?"_

_"I know."_

_"Ah, Haru. I have to go now."_

_"Okay."_

_"I'll call you again in a few days, okay?"_

_"Okay."_

_"I love you, Haru."_

_"Me too."_

* * *

I went to school everyday and met Nagisa and Rei in the cafeteria. We'd buy some food, go up to the roof, and relax until the next class would start. Rin sometimes skipped his classes at Samezuka to hangout with us. I didn't care much for it, but Kou was obviously getting really annoyed by it. Nonetheless, I stayed out of it. It was none of my concern.

Everyday after swim practice, I'd go home to feed the stray cats that would loiter around my home. At this point, they can't really be called _stray_ cats since I fed them all the time. There was one cat that would always come around, while the others really would sometimes be stray cats I had never seen before. This cat had soft, white fur that was fluffy. Its meow was small, but it made up for the fact that its eyes were so big.

And green.

It loved licking my hand whenever I fed it; it had never tried to scratch me. It had been visiting me for a couple of weeks after Makoto had begun to talk to me less. I'd feed it mackerel, of course, and milk as its drink. I never cared to check its gender, because it was never really my cat.

One evening though, after Makoto had said he'd call but didn't, I decided to check.

"So you're a boy.." I said, and he meowed at me.

I stroked his back and scratched underneath his chin, as he purred into my palm. I tried to take my hand away, but it immediately laid its paws on the floor and pressed my hand against his paws with his head, not allowing me to free my hand. I smiled at him, cooing my new name for him.

"Makoto.. don't do that. I'll catch a cold."

He meowed.

I sighed, sensing I would be outside for a while before Makoto the cat would finally allow me to go inside. I tried cajoling him, using my other hand to pet his back, hoping that maybe, he'd lift his head.

He, of course, didn't. I picked him up and nuzzled my face above his head, and he purred. He moved his head so that I would be looking at his face, and he purred yet again. He placed a paw on my cheek, and stared at my face.

"I guess you really like me, huh."

I sighed, and opened the door to my house. I stepped inside, taking off my shoes, before closing the door again. I walked slowly up the stairs, the whole time staring at Makoto.

"I'm gonna show you something really special, okay?"

I placed Makoto on my pillow, then walked over to the drawers where I kept my clothes. I rummaged around for a few seconds, before my fingers finally touched the hard edges of what I was looking for.

"I'm gonna show you the real Makoto, Makoto-neko. He's my best friend," I whispered to the cat looking at me as I sat down.

I lingered on photos of Makoto's smiling face, his eyes shining brighter than the ocean on a summer's day. I felt my heart squeeze at the photos of him and I together, where I'd be looking away, and he'd be smiling. His smile was so warm, and it made the sides of my lips twitch.

_What a goofball._

I flipped through a few more photos, before looking over to Makoto-neko. He was fast asleep, curled into himself on my pillow. I smirked, and continued to flip through the pages of the photo album I never showed anyone.

If there was another thing about Makoto that I adored, it was the way he looked in photos. It's not that he looked attractive (even though he did), it was the fact that even through a photo, you could tell how kind he was. You could tell that he was the most gentle person you might ever meet, and the person who would always be compassionate, no matter how hard it might be. I leafed through some of my favorite photos again and again, carving his smile into my heart, along with my memories of his scent, of the way his lips felt against mine, how I would be the one to protect him from abandoned houses, how he'd remind me to eat even though he knew _all I ate_ was mackerel.

I felt slumber envelop me on the last page of the album. I remember it being a photo of Makoto hugging me, his eyes completely alive, as they looked into the camera. My face, of course, was buried in his chest, but I could see the slight hues of red on the tips of my ears. I could not remember the last time that Makoto had looked so happy, after that photo. It wasn't even a special event; we were playing video games at his house when his mother came in to take a photo of us. This was before Makoto told me he was leaving.

Perhaps his mother knew, all the way back then.

I dreamt of Makoto that night. I dreamt of him coming home to Iwatobi, both his hands full with his suitcase and souvenirs that he might've bought. I saw his warm smile, the way his eyes melted as he came off the train and saw me waiting for him. I heard him calling my name in his soft, low voice, his tone amorous. I dreamt he didn't have to be away from me anymore.


End file.
